Improvement in carriage-steps



EDWARD WELLS.

`improvement `im Carriage Steps. 401125,2'35.

Patented/mil 2,1872.

NITED STATES y PATENT IMPROVEMENT IN CARRIAGE-STEPS..

Specification forming part of Letters Patent Nd. 125,235, dated April 2, 1872.

To all uhom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD WELLS, of New Haven, in the county of New Haven and State ot' Connecticut, have invented a new Improvement in Carriage-Steps; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full,elear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawing constitutes part of this specification and represents, in-

Figure l, a transverse section of that portion of a carriage to which the step is applied; and in Fig. 2, an under-side view ofthe same.

This invention relates to an improvement in that class of carriage-steps in which the step is folded by the swinging of the door, and more particularly in the step for which Letters Patent were granted to me June 6, 1871. In that construction t-he transversefslide beneath the carriage, the movement of which operates the step, is so constructed as to move from the door back to open the steps. To do this an arm on the door is required, from which a rod extends to the slide, the play of this rod being so great that it is necessary for the slide to be arranged flatwise, and cannot well be covered; hence there is great liability of itsderangement by dirt or other foreign substance. The object of the present invention is to overcome this difficulty and make the working of the rods so near in a straight line that the slide may be set edgewise and easily covered. To this end the invention consists in attaching the rod which operates the slide directly to the door, and the rod from the slide to the step above t-he pivot of the step, as lnore fully hereinafter described.

A is the bottom or door of the carriage 5 I3, the door-post; C, the door; D, the step-frame; and E, the step, closed, the frame being secured to the carriage in the usual manner. F is a slide, arranged transversely across the bottom ot' the carriage to run in suitable guides G, and lies upon its edge, so that the mechanism may be attached upon the face or side. From a pivot, a, on the side, a rod, II, extends, and is secured to the door at d, so that when the door opens, as denoted in broken lines, the rod will be drawn forward and with it the slide F, and the connection d with the door is in such relative position to the hinge that, the door opening to the position denoted in broken lines, which is fully open, the position of the rod relatively to the slide is not materially changed, if at all. The slide moves toward the door as it opens, and from the door as it closes. The step E is pivoted to the frame at e, and from the pivot n on the slide F a rod, l?, extends, and is pivoted to the step at f, above the pivot e, so that, as the slide is drawn forward the step is thrown. down, as denoted in broken lines, this occurring when the door opens, and when the slide is moved back by the closing of the door the step also closes.

By this construction I am enabled to make the two pivots a a on the slide axially parallel, the rods working nearly parallel to each other; hence I am enabled to place a coverin g or box, R, over the mechanism, as denoted in Fig. l, a small slot, S, only being required for the working of the rod P in a perforation, t, for the rod H, which so completely incloses the mechanism that it is impossible for it to be deranged by mud or other foreign substance thrown thereon.

I claim as my inventionl. The slide F, arranged to work in a path transversely across the carriage, and connected directly to the door by the rod H, having a second rod, P, in connection with the step E, above its pivot, substantially as described.

2. The arrangement of a covering or case, It, over the mechanism which combines the folding step with the door, substantially as described.

Y EDWARD WELLS.

Witnesses:

A. J. TIBBITs, J. H. SHUMWAY. 

